Abstract
To enable use of aircraft winds and satellite cloud-motion vectors in the SANBAR model for prediction of tropical storm tracks, we have derived regression equations for estimating the tropospherically averaged flow from information at one, two or three levels. Two-level results represent an improvement over climatology and a third level yields substantial further improvement. We find from a study of the 1975 season in the Atlantic Basin that reduction in initial position and track-velocity errors can produce substantial improvement in position-forecast accuracy out to 72 h range. We recommend a new procedure for evaluating and using wind observations within the region influenced by the storm circulation. The new method has the potential for substantial reduction of present forecast error for storms within 24 h of landfall.
